t doesn't look good for now....but gonna keep it on watch...
Bill to legalize online gambling is off the table
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Sabrina Eaton
Plain Dealer Bureau
Washington- A bill that would legalize and regulate many forms of Internet gambling will be put on hold while its author, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, attempts to draw a better political hand.
"There are more votes for my position now than there were a year ago, but there aren't yet enough," Frank said after a hear ing at which Barberton minister Greg Hogan Sr. described how his son, Greg Jr., robbed a bank to pay Internet poker debts.
Frank, who believes the current ban on Internet gambling interferes with Americans' personal freedoms, says he won't push the bill through his committee until he thinks it could pass the full House of Representatives.
Financial experts at the hearing delivered conflicting reports on whether gambling Web sites can weed out patrons who are underage or live in states where gambling is illegal. Republican legislators who attended, including Steve LaTourette of Concord Township, expressed opposition to the bill.
Hogan, who lives in Hudson, listed his son's achievements, which included playing at Carnegie Hall piano recitals and being elected president of Lehigh University's sophomore class, before describing his descent into addiction and the Hogan family's futile efforts to stop it. Greg Jr. is now serving a 22-month prison sentence.
"Because Greg fell victim to Internet gambling's illusions of quick riches and a shortcut to his dreams, his dreams are in ashes today," Hogan told the committee. "Please refuse this bill, because if we open the door to any type of Internet gambling, we are allowing our college and high school students to play Russian roulette."
Men lie.......Women lie......Numbers don't
GREEN MAGIC CITY
#board-5966
AI
